Keeping Your Survival Camp Secure When Bugging Out

If you are a survivalist, you must realize the importance of being ready for times when things go south. With the economic, social, and political situation worsening over time, there is a chance of you and your family having to camp out when things go wrong. If you wish to survive that, you must ensure you are well prepared.

When times are bad, and the situation is out of everyone’s control, people may go to any length in order to protect themselves and fight whoever gets in their way. In times like these, you will encounter all kinds of people. Some might be willing to join forces with you so that you all can work as a larger, stronger unit. Others, however, are more likely to be hostile parties. These include both humans and animals who may be out to hunt you down. This is why you need to get yourself a secure survival camp.

Ensuring your campsite’s security is easy if you keep the following things in mind when setting up your campsite.

Choosing The Perfect Location For Your Survival Camp

The first part of bugging out is choosing a good place for setting up camp. It is always better to purchase a piece of land and have it prepared in advance. But sometimes, it might not be possible for you to do that. In both cases, you need to first select the best possible location. There are a few features, such as distance, visibility, and altitude, which you must consider before finalizing your choice.

Depending on the kind of crisis you are facing, you may or may not be able to travel to a place that is far away from your home. It is preferable to choose a site which will take no more than five days for you to reach if you are going to walk the entire way. If you think you will be able to travel by car, then one fuel tank should be enough for you to reach your site. If your fuel requirement exceeds that, then you will have to make sure there are gas stations on the way to the site. During crises, however, you cannot rely on those either. Like everything else, they may be shut down too. Therefore, make sure you have your own fuel supply.

Since your campsite is not a proper building, it won’t have walls, doors, windows, or any sort of protection to keep out intruders. It is going to be in an open space, undefended from the forces outside. Therefore, camouflage is necessary. A good way to hide your bug out tent is to make sure it has lots of trees or bushes around it. Having military green or grey camping gear is also a good idea. You can also paint the outside of your survival camp so that it merges with the surroundings.

The presence of natural resources, such as a reliable water supply and multiple food sources, is also an important factor. Small streams of water that dry up in bad weather will not suffice. You don’t know how long you will have to camp out in one place. Therefore, a more reliable accessible water source must be present nearby. While plants are a good source of edible fruits and vegetables, an area with small animals or birds that you can hunt would be a good choice. Since communication among group members as well as with the outside world is critical, you should try to go for a site that gets cellular reception. Also, make sure there are no other possibly hostile groups of people already occupying the surrounding land.

Deterring Intruders From Attacking Or Breaking Into Your Bug Out Site

One thing that you can always be sure of is that your site will be found sooner or later. Therefore, you must think of ways to discourage the people or animals who discover your survival camp.

One way is to appear to have more members in your group than are actually present. You can do that by pitching multiple bug out tents. For example, if two tents will be sufficient for you and your group members, set up four tents instead. This will make it look like you have double the number of group members than you actually do. Another way is to set up chairs or other seating arrangements outside your tent in a greater number than required. You can also make your campsite look unattractive or inhabitable from the outside so that it appears that it has been laying deserted or abandoned for a long time.

As far as animals are concerned, the one thing that is the greatest attraction for them is food. When cooking, you would, of course, not have a proper stove at your disposal. You will have to build a fire, which will result in both smell and smoke. The food will also attract others because of its scent. It is common for the smell of food and the smoke from fire to be detectable from many miles away. Therefore, it is recommended to light fires at night only. This way, the smoke will go undetected. Also, you need to make sure that your waste or food does not attract animals. You can do that by disposing of the garbage or excess food a fair distance away from your camp or burying it in the ground.

If you follow these steps, you will appear less vulnerable to others who discover you. Hence, it will reduce the chances of you and your group being attacked.

Guarding Your Survival Camp

Since most bug out situations involve a group of people instead of one individual operating alone, there has to be a system of guard duty put in place. Putting people on rotational guard duty is an effective way to ensure that the site is protected at all times. A minimum of two guards on duty at a given time is recommended. However, for larger groups, three to four people would be even better. One person can then keep an eye on the other guards, who can, in turn, look out for unwelcome visitors or other threats. Putting together patrol teams is also a good idea if you are part of a large group of people.

Posting your guards on high ground is also essential. They should be able to look into the distance and point out approaching people or animals. However, they must not be exposed such that others can locate them from afar via silhouettes. It will be even better if the guards are equipped with night-vision binoculars and weapons to defend themselves in case of attacks or ambushes.

A warning system should also be set up. It could be as simple as setting up trip wires or as sophisticated as fitting expensive solar-powered electric fences around the site. Even having an animal such as a dog can prove effective, since animals are often good at detecting danger or strangers. Placing sandbags around the site is a good protective measure too.

Maintaining An Efficient System Of Communication

It is extremely important for all group members to stay in touch with each other at all times. Communication is especially important so that guards can inform the other members of the group in case they detect a threat. They should be able to warn those inside the camp so that they can prepare accordingly. You can choose to simply use existing cellular services for that purpose, but often, in times of crises, cellular services are shut down. You should, therefore, come up with some other discreet but effective form of communication.

One way is to use walkie-talkies. These are two-way radio systems which operate on radio waves. They are easily available and are low-maintenance and easy to operate. They are also quite reliable for long-range communication. However, in some situations, it is not possible to use verbal communication. You can use flashlights for non-verbal communication. Small battery-powered flashlights last a sufficient amount of time and their light can be carried over long distances. Sequences of flickers can be put together as a new system of communication. You can also use Morse code to communicate with your group members, given that all of them are well-versed in Morse code.

You cannot stay put inside the bug-out site at all times. You or other members may have to leave the survival camp in search of food, water or firewood. Upon return, your group members must be made aware that it is you and not a threat approaching the bug out tent. For this purpose, some kind of signal can be decided upon beforehand. That will make sure the group can identify one of their own.

In Conclusion

Keeping all the afore-mentioned points in mind will help you set up the perfect spot for your survival camp. Now that you know all the important tips and tricks, you can start preparing beforehand for crises. Even if you end up never having to face a situation where you need to bug out, you can put these helpful skills to use by going camping with your friends or family.